Steve Jobs’ yacht impounded in Amsterdam due to payment dispute

The late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs’ sleek, white superyacht is not being allowed to leave Amsterdam thanks to a payment dispute with the yacht’s designer.

According to The Associated Press, Jobs teamed up with French product designer Philippe Starck to create the 256-foot yacht, named Venus. The Dutch newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad said that the designer hired a debt collection agency and managed to keep the yacht in the country until the dispute is settled.

TMZ reports that Starck claims it cost $197 million to build and he should have been paid $12 million for its design. He claims that Jobs agreed to play him 12 percent of the yacht’s building costs, which Jobs’ family disputes.

They say that the boat cost $138 million to make, meaning that Starck should only be paid $8 million.

A lawyer for Starck’s company, Ubik, spoke to Reuters, saying, “The project has been going since 2007 and there had been a lot of detailed talk between Jobs and Starck...These guys trusted each other, so there wasn't a very detailed contract.”

Port of Amsterdam spokesman Jeroen Ranzijn told the AP that it had been in the harbor since Dec. 8. “It was actually ready to continue its voyage when there was a dispute between two parties, including the heirs, and one party laid a claim on the boat,” he said, adding that the dispute should be solved soon.

Jobs died in October 2011, a year before the ship was launched. A film about Jobs' life is currently in the works at Sony with Aaron Sorkin writing. Ashton Kutcher also recently made an indie film, starring as the innovative Apple co-founder.